Merge 23 Voc.-Ed. Programs Into One Grant, Administration Proposes

A proposal unveiled by the Clinton Administration last week would
consolidate 23 separate vocational-education programs into a single
grant, giving states greater flexibility over how to use the federal
dollars.

The Administration outlined the proposed "Carl D. Perkins
career-preparation education-reform act" at an Education Department
briefing. The bill--one of several parts of the Administration's
"Middle Class Bill of Rights"--is intended to amend the Carl D. Perkins
Vocational Education and Applied Technology Act, which is up for
reauthorization this year.

Proposed by President Clinton last December, the Middle Class Bill
of Rights is a broad package of initiatives intended to help the middle
class gain access to college and job-training programs. It includes
proposals to give families an income-tax deduction for college tuition
and to create "skill grants," vouchers of up to $2,620 that low-income
adult workers could use to pay for job-training programs of their
choice. (See Education Week, 1/18/95.)

The skill-grant plan was introduced as legislation in January, and
the Administration is expected to draft other bills addressing other
aspects of the package.

The career-preparation act was introduced as HR 1426 in the House
this month by Rep. William L. Clay, D-Mo., and as S 696 in the Senate
by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass. They are the ranking Democrats on
the House and Senate committees with jurisdiction over education
legislation.

Consolidation Consensus

Victor F. Klatt, the education-policy coordinator for the House
Educational and Economic Opportunities Committee, said the
consolidation features of the Clinton plan show that the Administration
"has come a long way" toward the kind of approach favored by
Republicans.

"The Democrats in general have been unwilling to take a hard look at
many small categorical programs, and this is one indication that they
are starting to come around," he said.

"We have been in regular contact with the Administration--both the
Education and Labor departments--and there is nothing we would like
better than to fashion a bipartisan bill that both of us can support,"
Mr. Klatt added.

Early next month, he said, Republicans in the House expect to
introduce broad workforce-development legislation that would replace at
least 80 categorical programs with a small number of block grants
focusing on specific populations such as youths or adults. Senate
Republicans have also expressed interest in block-grant plans. (See
Education Week, 12/7/94.)

The Clinton plan would replace a smaller number of categorical
programs, focused specifically on school-based initiatives.

The measure would allow states to use Perkins dollars for activities
like those financed under the School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994,
such as integrating vocational and academic instruction or career
mentoring. States would also be encouraged to link vocational-education
programs with broader school-reform efforts.

Accountability Measures

The bill would also allow states to combine Perkins Act money with
federal funds authorized under the School-to-Work Act, the Goals 2000:
Educate America Act, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and
the Job Training Partnership Act.

The bill would continue to earmark some funds for programs serving
Native Hawaiians and Native Americans.

In exchange for the added flexibility and a reduction in federal
directives, states would be expected to set performance standards. The
federal government would hold states accountable by awarding additional
money to states that met their goals and withholding funds from those
that did not. States would be evaluated every two years to track their
progress, based on such measures as high school graduation rates,
skill-certificate and college-completion rates, and graduates' job
placements and earnings.

Although performance standards were instituted in the last
reauthorization of the Perkins Act, Congress did not link them to any
penalties or rewards.

Vocational-education advocates expressed concern last week that the
bill's language is not specific enough, and said there was no way of
insuring that money would be spent on vocational education.

Mixed Reactions

"The reality is, if you don't start to earmark some of this money at
the federal level, maybe it won't get there," said Paul Plavin, the
director of publications for the American Vocational Association. "And
that's what we fear."

But John F. Jennings, the director of the Center for National
Educational Policy at the Washington-based Institute for Educational
Leadership, and a longtime Democratic Congressional aide, said the
Clinton plan was a step in the right direction.

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